Gurusai, Sourabh advance to quarterfinals

Young shuttlers Sourabh Verma and R.M.V. Gurusai Datt continued their rampaging run in the Indian Open Super Series, notching up contrasting wins in the second round to reach the quarterfinals of the men’s singles event at the Siri Fort Complex here on Thursday.

Sourabh once again led the charge as he continued his giant-killing spree with a 21-19 18-21 21-11 upset win over seventh seed Kenichi Tago, while Gurusai sent Yuhan Tan of Belgium packing to a 21-13 14-21 21-13 defeat.

Kashyap loses out

However, India's number one P. Kashyap found the going tough against world number two Taufik Hidayat and lost 21-17 21-19.

Sourabh, who is ranked 218 in the world, sent out a wave of euphoria across the sparse crowd when he beat the world number 25 Japanese in an hour’s time.

The 20-year-old didn’t allow his higher-ranked opponent to settle down and varied the pace of the game, playing an array of strokes. He moved fast on the court and kept the shuttle flat while serving.

Initially, Sourabh failed to judge the shuttle but caught up with Tago at 15-15 before wrapping it up at 21-19.

Not ready to give up, the Japanese opened up a three—-oint lead at 12-9 in the second game and though Sourabh drew parity at 16-16, he surged ahead to bounce back.

In the decider, Sourabh stepped up the gas and employed a more aggressive approach to open up a huge 6—0 lead as Tago’s game crumbled.

“The last match had given me a lot of confidence and I knew if I play well, I can beat him. I made sure that I didn’t repeat the last match’s mistakes and tried to control the game. We were equal in speed and power as we both are young and so it was tiring in the third game. But I didn’t want to defend so I went for my strokes in the third and was aggressive from the start,” Sourabh said.

While Sourabh was swift and fluent on the court, Gurusai was slow and sluggish but the Andhra Pradesh lad was still good enough for his Belgium rival.

While in the first game, the world number 52 Indian didn’t give Tan any chance, he was erratic in the second game, conceding a lot of points through enforced errors as the 78th ranked Belgium fought back into contention.

Gurusai opens up huge lead

But Gurusai got his act together quickly in the decider and moved ahead 10-1 to seal a place in the quarters.

“It was good match, I had to win it. I was slow and rusty today. I was ok when I was practicing in the morning but once I stepped on to the court, I was not moving fast. He was good at the nets. He was pushing me behind but I was ready in the third game,” he said.

“I have played him before and won the last encounter as well. I need to recover well and be ready for the next match.”

This is the second time in his career that Gurusai has reached the quarterfinals of a Super Series, the last being the Denmark Open in 2009.